Health Education

Health Education is a free service for all Rural Health patients. Health educators can help you manage your asthma, diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol and they can advise you on weight loss, nutrition, exercise, and how to take your medicine. The health educators offer diabetes prevention and Healthy Habits for Children programs that include these services. They can also link you to help to stop smoking.

Call Atlantic (757-824-5676) or Chincoteague (757-336-3682) and dial ext. 1357; Eastville (757-331-1086) or Onley (757-787-7374) ext. 1728.

Be Your Own Hero: Prediabetes captions 1 in 3 American adults, but you can escape and prevent or delay type 2 diabetes by making healthy lifestyle changes.

Prediabetes affects nearly 98 million American adults, but it can be reversed. Learning your risk is the first step to a healthier future.

Prediabetes is a serious but reversible condition that affects more than 1 in 3 American adults. Without healthy lifestyle changes, prediabetes can lead to type 2 diabetes. People with prediabetes have higher than normal blood glucose (sugar) levels but not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes puts you at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart attack, and stroke. Of those with prediabetes, 81 percent don’t know they have it.

With the right steps, prediabetes can be reversed, and you can change the outcome. The key is to find out whether you’re at risk. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has partnered with the Ad Council since 2016 to raise awareness of prediabetes and help people take steps to reverse prediabetes and prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Most recently, the campaign released public service announcements (PSAs) under the theme of “Be Your Own Hero.” The ads remind viewers that they have the power to escape prediabetes and prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes through healthy lifestyle changes like eating healthier foods, managing weight, and increasing physical activity.

Not sure if you’re at risk for prediabetes? It only takes 1-minute to find out! Know where you stand by visiting DoIHavePrediabetes.orgPodriaTenerPrediabetes.org in Spanish—and take the 1-mintue online test. Learn your risk and how to take action for a healthier you today. Why wait?